A week later, Ruva pushed open her dorm door. Her hands were numb from the chilly air, the weather had only gotten colder. She had just returned from her extra ES lesson, and Ruva was more than ready to relax. The food court was well and truly closed, so Ruva had raided the rec room. Her long hair was full of twigs, and she knew Arra would have fun teasing them all out.
When Ruva entered her room, Arra was facing away from her. She was sniffing, and Ruva could tell she had been crying. She didn't notice that Ruva entered, so she crept across the room silently. Ruva put down her pile of food, wincing as the plastic crackled loudly.
Ruva reached for the metal rose on their desk, bringing it over to Arra. Arra had stopped sniffing, but she hadn't turned around. Ruva placed the rose on Arra's lap.
"What's wrong?" Ruva asked, barely louder than a whisper.
Arra picked up the silver rose and smelled it. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."
Ruva sat down beside her. "That's what you said last time."
Arra took in a deep breath and sighed. "I don't want to tell you, but I don't feel like I have a choice."
"What do you mean?"
"You told me about your parents, it's only fair I tell you about mine."
Ruva grabbed Arra's hand. "You still have a choice. You always will."
"Thank you, Angel, but I'll tell you anyway. You deserve to hear it," Arra looked up at Ruva, and Ruva saw she was still fighting tears. "Turn around, your hair is a mess."
Ruva obliged. She didn't mind if Arra wanted to hide her tears, nobody likes feeling weak. But for Ruva, tears would never be a weakness.
"My father died when I was only a few years old. I can't remember him, but Mum has a picture of him. He looks nice, he's got the same eyes as me. A year after he died Mum remarried. Her new husband… wasn't nice. He had a bad temper, and was alcoholic. Over the years he got worse and worse, until he didn't just yell, he punched…" Arra stopped there, overwhelmed by some memory. Her hands stopped halfway through un-braiding Ruva's hair. Ruva gave Arra's hand a squeeze. Arra seemed to remember where she was.
"Those years were bad. Mum never had the strength to defend against him, and Pip and Tim were too young to do anything. Tim's gift was useful though, he changed the colour of all our water to look like alcohol, and made all the alcohol clear. He was better after that, but Tim couldn't be here every day, especially when he was accepted into Akarnae.
It wasn't the same without Tim, but Pip and I managed okay. Well, we did in the first year. As soon as Tim left for his second year at Akarnae, he grew worse and worse. He blamed everyone for wasting the money he earnt, but spent most of it himself on alcohol. At some points Mum threatened to divorce him, but he threatened to cut off all of our school fees. Mum had no choice.
One time he got into a rage and started punching Mum. He punched and punched and wouldn't stop, no matter how much Pip and I yelled. He was showing no sign of holding back, but then he just stopped. He took in a deep breath and apologised for how he treated Mum. We were all shocked, he never apologised for anything, ever. Pip was standing there, an extreme look of concentration on her face. He walked out of the room, calm and relaxed."
Ruva turned around to face her friend. "What? Why did he stop?"
Arra smiled. "Pip activated her gift. She was an Empath, a person who can manipulate other's emotions. She saved Mum that day, and me too."
"Wow, what happened after that?"
"Turn around so I can keep doing your hair. I have no idea how you can get so many leaves and twigs in there in just one day."
Ruva smiled and turned back around, keeping her hands busy by fiddling with her Myrox necklace.
"Things got better after that. Whenever he got angry Pip managed to calm him down, but I could see how much it tired her. She went to bed looking exhausted, and she woke up just as tired. I didn't know it at the time, but Pip was overusing her gift. She became moody, flicking from one emotion to another in a matter of seconds. But Kaldoras was always the best time of year, Tim would come home and do his alcohol-water swapping trick, so Pip needed to use her gift less.
Kaldoras wasn't all fun and games though, Tim had nightmares each time he went to bed. He woke up covered in sweat, everything around him coloured blue. He unconsciously turned them blue in his sleep – and it wasn't a nice blue either. It was a light blue that was almost sickening…" Ruva took in a breath. The blue Arra was talking about reminded her of her ribbon of fear.
"He managed to change everything back to its normal colour, but it drained him. Each morning Tim and Pip would talk, sometimes for hours. I could tell Pip used her gift in that time, because she always came out more tired and moodier than before. Every day I would ask what they were doing in there, and they said it was nothing.
Everything was okay for a few years, but then Pip went to Akarnae. Mum and I suffered his unending rage. Mum signed me up for every club, group and activity she could find, wanting me to be out of the house as much as possible. I appreciated what she was doing, but there was no way I'd leave her alone with that brute. I didn't go to a single one, I stood by Mum always. I took all the blows for her, goading him away. I learnt to duck and dodge, and even fight back if I had to. But Mum didn't like that, she didn't want me to turn out like him, so I didn't do it often – That's probably why I'm Delta for Combat, actually…" Arra grew silent again.
"What happened next? How did you go without Tim and Pip?" Ruva turned around, silently begging for her friend to continue.
Arra turned her head away and sighed. "It didn't go well."
"It was the first day of the Kaldoras holidays, and I was awake hours before dawn. I was so excited for Pip and Tim to come home, excited enough that I took some risks. I hid all his alcohol, hoping we could have one happy holiday together as a family," Arra laughed bitterly, but then she grew quiet. "But some people don't want to be a family."
"When he found his supply gone, he flew into an unstoppable rage. He yelled and screamed at Mum, threatening her life, our lives – anything he could think of! But then, I got angry. I was yelling and punching and hitting, telling him to get off Mum. He didn't listen to me. So I told him that I was the one who hid his drinks. He finally forgot about Mum, taking it all out on me. He wanted me to tell him where it was, but I refused.
He pinned me against the ground, clutching his hands around my throat. Mum was yelling at him to stop, and managed to pull him back far enough so I could run away." Arra stopped, taking a deep breath.
"But there's only so far you can run in a cramped, three-storey terrace. I went up onto the roof, planning to run onto the adjoining buildings, but he got there first. He grabbed onto my arm with more force than I thought possible, and… and…"
"What?! What happened next?" Adrenaline was running through Ruva's veins, and she was reminded of the man who tried to kidnap her four years ago.
Arra took in a shaky breath. "He dangled me over the side of the building."
Ruva gasped. "No!"
Arra could do nothing except look down. "Yes."
"Did he… Did he let go?"
Arra took in a deep breath and continued her story.
"Right at that moment, Pip and Tim arrived through a Bubbledoor. I called out to them, and they both looked up. They both gasped, and Pip used her gift to relax him. But, he became too relaxed…"
Ruva looked at Arra with pain filled eyes. "You…He…"
Arra nodded and continued in an emotionless voice. "He became so relaxed that he let go. I fell." Arra took a deep breath before continuing. "Tim ran forward, trying to catch me. But as I fell, I became metal. I activated my gift, and landed on the ground without a scratch."
Ruva exhaled in relief. "Was everything all right after that?"
Arra smiled – it was a thin smile, but still a smile. "I landed on top of Tim, and I was too shocked to deactivate my gift. Pip had to make me feel calm so I could get off Tim. He broke five bones, and we spent the rest of the day in an emergency ward."
"What about him, was he sorry for letting go of you?"
"He didn't care, He didn't even acknowledge it until Pip used her gift to make him feel ashamed and remorseful. I thought things were never going to change, but they did.
The doctor who saw to Tim and reassured us must have realised we were in an abusive situation. He asked lots of questions about whether I was injured, even though I repeatedly told him my gift had stopped me from getting hurt. When he came to our house the following day, I realised he wanted to know whether I had been mistreated.
The doctor came a few days later, and experienced first-hand what our family was like."
Arra giggled, something Ruva had never heard her do. "He stepped in a puddle of water, which Tim had changed to look like alcohol, he tripped on the furniture and landed on our cat! Things got even funnier when Tim came in. He was so shocked at seeing the doctor, he turned the entire room blue!" Arra gave a big grin, the motion contrasting with her blotchy cheeks. She finished re-braiding Ruva's hair and Ruva sat up beside her.
"It was one of the best things I ever saw. Everyone found it funny…" Arra's expression sobered. "Until he came in. He yelled and swore about how 'those kids make so much mess' 'what's this stranger doing in my house?' and 'control your kids! I married you for a reason, and I won't pay for this!'
The doctor was appalled, he immediately tried to usher us out of the building, but we refused. The three of us stood in front of mum, making a clear statement about who we support. Pip tried to calm him down, and Tim told him he was in a fight he'd never win. I hadn't realised until that moment, but Tim was the same height as him, more an adult than a child. He was in his third year of Akarnae, seventeen years old.
I held Mum's hand, giving her the support she needed, Tim stood in front of us, protecting what should've been protected from the start. Pip was standing on the side, trying to calm him down. Sweat was running down her face, and I could tell Pip wasn't making any progress. She always said it was harder to manipulate him when he was drunk – something about emotions being more chaotic when alcohol's involved.
In the end we had to pin him down, so Pip could touch him and make her gift stronger. She managed to calm him down, and he left to go have a sleep. The poor doctor looked traumatised from the whole event, and immediately ushered us through his Bubbledoor.
We came out into Mardenia's Warden Headquarters, where we were shown into a room and had to explain everything that had happened. They said it was an interview, but it felt more like an interrogation…" Ruva shuddered. She had experienced the Warden's so-called interview too.
"Everything was better after that. Mum was divorced from him, and given a supplementary stream of money to pay for our school fees. Mum opened a café, and now she's a successful businesswoman. I got to help out, and I can make a crazy amount of cupcakes…" –Arra looked directly at Ruva– "… Including vegetarian ones."
Arra stayed silent, so Ruva spoke. "It's good everything turned out okay. Not everyone gets a happy ending, and I'm glad that you did."
Arra frowned. "I haven't got my happy ending, I've still got my whole life to live! My happy ending will be when I'm old and wrinkly and I die peacefully in my bed…" Ruva nodded, surprised at Arra's serious statement. "Surrounded by lots of vegetarian cupcakes of course, how else am I to spend years in retirement?"
Ruva snorted. "You won't have any cupcakes left by the time I'm done with you."
Arra smiled, her eyes lighting up in a way Ruva had never seen before.
"Thanks for being there for me, Angel."
"You deserve it, Arra." They both grew silent, so Ruva spoke again, breaking the sombre mood. "Now, tell me about these vegetarian cupcakes."
And Arra did. They spoke long into the night and into the early hours of the morning.
